Civil War in Poland, 1942 1948

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.The ensuing Sikorski-Maisky Agreement signed on 30 July provided for the raising of Polish units in the Soviet Union.The diplomatic coup was secured at the expense of a further estrangement with the president and the prime minister's isolation within his own government.Stalin had refused to make a commitment to the restoration of Polish territories earlier incorporated into the Soviet Union, thus Sikorski's policy increasingly made the securing of Poland's independence in its pre-war borders dependent on British and US willingness to champion the Polish cause.This, according to Sikorski's thinking, would take place only if a sufficiently large debt of gratitude was built up towards the Poles during the course of the war.During its extended sojourn in Britain between 1940 and 1945, when the British government withdrew recognition, the Polish government-in-exile built up a formidable military force, the ostensible purpose of which was to aid the allied war effort, but which in reality was primarily to secure for Poland the status of Britain's lighting ally.From troops which had been evacuated from the Northern coast of France during the final days of the Franco-German war, a First Polish Corps was formed.Until June 1944 when, after several reorganizations, it went into action during the allied landing in Northern France, the Corps was stationed in Scotland.Due to difficulties in recruiting, its size was limited to 18000.Only in 1944 when Poles who had been earlier forcefully recruited into the Wehrmacht could be incorporated into the Polish forces, was the Corps fully expanded.Even before the fall of Poland, Polish military leaders tried to establish the basis of future cooperation between the British and Polish military air forces.After the September defeat bomber crews were directed to Britain while fighter pilots were retained in France.After June 1940 surviving personnel were incorporated in the Polish Air Force which fought under British command.In accordance with the Anglo-Polish agreement signed on 5 August 1940 the Poles formed four bomber squadrons and two fighter squadrons.Future expansion was made dependent on availability of additional trained personnel.During the Battle of Britain the two fighter squadrons were confirmed to have brought down 203 German planes.Throughout the war Polish pilots took part in most major aerial actions over occupied Europe and in defence of the British Isles.Three Polish destroyers arrived safely in British coastal waters in September.Further naval units came to Britain later.Most participated in convoy duties in the Atlantic and the North Sea.Throughout the war additional naval units were made available to the Poles either by adapting fishing and commercial ships or when French ships were captured.Although the Polish Navy never operated independently, the British authorities were willing to allow the Poles to have ships that were entirely crewed by Polish men and which were given Polish names.After the fall of France a Polish Brigade which had been attached to General Weigand's Army in the Middle East refused to be bound by the armistice agreement signed by France and Germany.It therefore left French-controlled Syria and joined British troops in Palestine.In October 1941 this Brigade took part in the defence of Tobruk.It was, however, in the Soviet Union, as a result of the Sikorski-Maisky agreement, that the government-in-exile managed to secure the largest number of men who were in due course incorporated in Polish units.Initially Sikorski thought in terms of these units fighting with the Red Army and entering Poland from the East.37 Sikorski did not believe that the Soviet Union would be able to defeat Germany, and his military plans for the liberation of Poland assumed that British and US troops would enter from the West to liberate Poland and also to relieve the Red Army.Although he planned for joint military action, he built all his plans for the future of Poland on the expectation that the Soviet Union would take a leading role in the liberation of Polish territories.The decision of General Władysław Anders, the commander-in-chief of the Polish units in the Soviet Union not to aid the Soviet war effort but to remove them to Iran and place them under British command, was a blow to Sikorski's plans.His view had been that a Polish military presence in the East was not only necessary to secure Soviet cooperation, but also to reaffirm Polish authority.Now his military and diplomatic strategy for Poland to assume an independent role in the prosecution of war in the East were destroyed.38 Spurred on by Stalin's decision to rid himself of the Poles and encouraged by the British authorities in the Middle East, and keen to reinforce the British war effort in the Middle East and North Africa, General Anders moved all fully formed units out of the Soviet Union.In March 1942 33,000 men, accompanied by dependants, arrived in the Iranian port of Pahlevi.In September another 37,000 men left, after which Polish recruiting stations in the Soviet Union were closed and no further manpower was released to join units formed by the government-in-exile.39 The majority of soldiers evacuated from the Soviet Union, after a period of rest and training, went to fight in Italy.Sikorski's determination to build the exile government's political position within the community of wartime allies on the basis of Poland's military contribution to the defeat of Germany had not been successful.The single most obvious reason why by the end of 1942, the Poles had failed to obtain either commitments to the restoration of Poland in its pre-war borders or to representation on the joint allied military bodies, was the degree to which Britain and the US depended on the Soviet Union.While the defeat of Germany was an obvious shared objective, any attempt to extract commitments from Stalin were moderated by the realization that the brunt of the war effort in Europe was being carried by the Soviet Union [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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